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I returned last night at 11:00pm, and thought I'd better get cracking on this report while it is all fresh (relatively speaking) So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride......here goes....<br><br>BACKGROUND INFO:<br><br>Number of times to island : 16<br>Accomodations: Royal Islander, simply the best<br>Car Rental: Yes (actually, I don't even remember where we got it from. There is a large group of us, and we pay $150 per week...this is all handled before I get there, so don't know who it is from)<br>Partners in crime Leslie-friend from Cincy, Sheila (she314) and her sis Sue.<br>Airline Delta-Frequent flyer miles, GREAT flight!<br><br>OK, now on to the good stuff.........<br><br>Restaurants<br>Went to Lee's late one night...everyone else had burgers, I snatched fries off the plates. Burgers were enormous and very yummy. Chi-Chi was great as always, nice entertainment.<br><br>Bar de la Mer- This is a favorite every year for us. Had water shrimp and lobsters.....what can I say, just yummy.<br><br>Hot Tomatoes-I swear we sampled about every pizza they make. We liked the Anguilla White Sand, a sauceless pie, and the jerk chicken was excellent. Mushroom was really good too. 4 Cheese was a little strong for my taste.<br><br>Paris Bistro-LOVE this place! Bernard was off the night we went, but the waiter asked my name for the reservation and I said "Gsk"and his eyes got wide, and said "Oh!!!!! Gsk, right this way.....we have the VIP table for you!!!!! He gave Leslie and I glasses of Champagne, and we both had the Ocean Plate, a mixed plate of salmon, red snapper and Mahi in Champagne butter sauce-to die for!!!! We also had escargot-excellent! And the best was the goat cheese salad-simply the best salad I have ever had.....for dessert, Profiteroles.....I about licked the plate. At the end, he brought over a special guest book for me to sign.....<br><br>Bamboo Bernie's- Leslie and I had sushi one night. Was good, but I prefer more variety of choices.....most everything pretty much tasted the same. Even here in Hoosierland, we have better sushi. <br><br>Ric's- Ate here St. Patty's night...the place was PACKED, with an Irish guy singing old Irish songs...(same guy who had performed at Hot Tomatoes for the Tuesday TTOL party) While pretty much EVERYONE in the place was eating corned beef and cabbage dinners, Kirby and I ate greasy appetizers (greasy in a good way) and quesadillas. It was all good....<br><br>KFC- at midnight, there simply is nothing better......nuff said.<br><br>Beaches As Sheila and others have attested, the sand is GONE in front of Pedro's to Kontiki. We camped at Kakao twice.....very nice....highly recommended.<br><br>Spent a couple days at Mullet too, always a favorite with us. Daleo's snack shack for lunch is really good.....a little slow, but hey, island time, mon!<br><br>Maho Beach has a little more sand back at our end than usual....I still love the waves there. This is our 'home' beach, so we tend to stick around....we get so lazy and can't bring ourselves to beach hop too much....<br><br>TRIP HIGHLIGHTS<br><br>People:<br>Went to 2 TTOL parties and met (forgive me because I know I'll forget some) Kirby (gwleo) we hooked up with at the TTOL Tues. party and he hung with us the rest of the trip....what a great guy!!!! Deepti (absolutely gorgeous and the most charming young woman you will ever meet!) and Jeff (adorable and so friendly!) The infamous Dicky and Frank (thanks for all your efforts and for making our trip so fun....we had a ball with you. Frank is one lucky dog!) Jack from Peg Leg (wish we had had more time to visit) Marybeth and Don, BobD and Bette, who bless their hearts were VERY concerned about whether I bought a passport keeper-I didn't Bette offered to mail me one-I think I will take her up on that!<br>Ken and Kathy-what nice people, we enjoyed your company at the parties.<br>Cole and Michaella-thanks for planning a great gathering at Greenhouse.....such a fun night...hope to see you on future SXM visits. Patitaly, great fun and vibrant personality....glad you could make the party. Karessa and mmartinfan (Kevin) wish we could have spent more time with you....Karessa, hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip. Kevin, I know you did!!!!<br>The Maddens, Sungoddess, sugarae, Gary and Nancy, the Lurker's Diana and Neil, and of course, Augie and Sue-you guys are great and I enjoyed having a few laughs with you And Wendell, well what can I say, ya just gotta love Wendell. Thanks so much for hangin' with us...wish you could have stayed longer, and sorry we missed saying goodbye to ya.....you can hang with us anytime[img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img] <br><br>Places:<br>Spent most of our time closing down the Lady C...for some reason [img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/kiss.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/kiss.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/grin.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/grin.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/cheers.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/devil.gif[/img]we couldn't get enough of the place this year. Colin the bartender is GORGEOUS.....Robert Redford! OMG!!! Plus met so many fun people-locals, crew people, etc. Great times....wild times.....yikes!!!!<br><br>Also hit Buccaneer, (and then Neil would make his way to Lady C after closing his place, so we had some fun with him there too! And Neil, I have a crush on your friend Bill![img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img])<br>Bamboo Bernies one night for "Ladies drink free" was a joke....could get NO service for about 20 minutes---I blew up at the bartender, told him their service sucked and basically read him the riot act...we left never to return....<br><br>Sunset Beach Bar-Kirby and I spent Sunday night here....GREAT band, the place was just PACKED! Ran into to all our 'friends' we made at the Lady C...one of which is Howard, an adorable Englishman who is a chef on one of the mega yachts.....well, he had been trying to get drinks for quite sometime, and finally the waitress came over...she had a horrible look on her face and was very surly.....he added one more drink to the original order and she says, "is there anything else you want before I PUNCH you in the face?" She was dead serious.....unbelieveable......I was shocked! Another bartender heard it and apologized for her, and gave us free drinks...have no idea what her problem was....just a nasty girl....she was like that the whole night.<br>Other than her, we had a blast that night, dancing and partying under the brilliant full moon!!!![img]/images/icons2/clapping.gif[/img]<br><br>I got REALLY lucky in the casino this trip...only went to Royale, and on Wed, night, I hit for about $90 on the Heat Wave machine......well, Sunday night, after leaving SSBB at about 10:30pm, I went over looking for my mom...she wasn't there, so I sat down at my 'lucky' machine...well, 2 hours later I had hit TRIPLE SEVEN's SEVEN times!!!!!!! This was between 2 machines, both Heat Waves, right next to each other....I just kept going back and forth and ended up winning about $300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img] I was all by myself and had no one to celebrate with , but that was 2 very well spent hours!!!!!! We had seen a couple other people hit on those machines too, so they are obviously VERY loose!!!!! I even drained one out of money completly.<br><br>Things:<br>My mom and her friend spent a day with the lovely Deepti and bought some gorgeous baubles....when they got home they could not stop talking about her and how gracious and patient she was with them.....Deepti, you are a gem in your own right, and I thank you, thank you, thank you for your hospitality and for treating my mom an her friend so wonderfully....you are the best!!!!<br><br>Mullet Bay Beach cleanup: Thanks to Leslie, Cole, Kirby, Sue and me too.....the 5 of us spent time Friday morning cleaning up the trash on Mullet Beach. We filled a large trash drum, and hopefully made a bit of a difference. One thing we decided....DO NOT take plastic straws on the beach!!!!! We picked up zillions!!! Folks, these just blow away and make such a mess......please refrain from using them. Also, the beach was basically a giant ashtray.......so sad.....it really takes no effort to just keep a cup or can to use as an ashtray and discard properly when done. <br><br>I also met the man who is building the new golf course between Guana and Dawn....to hear him tell it, it is pretty much a done deal, so we'll see what happens.<br><br>The TTOL parties were great....there were about 35-40 people at each and a great time was had by all. You know, some people think meeting others from the 'Internet' is strange.....well, I have to say the TTOL'ers we have met are just the nicest bunch of people you would ever want to meet. Such a nice blend of ages, backgrounds, interests, lifestyles and personalities, all with one thing in common...the place we call SXM. As Sheila said, our trips just get better and better....and the great people we meet are a big reason for that. Only 355 more days to go!!!!!!<br>[img]/images/icons2/laugh.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/laugh.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img][img]/images/icons2/joy.gif[/img]<br><br>